Expect the Unexpected
by The QAS
Summary: Working on The Project Artemis finds something odd.An unknown substance is destroying the ozone layer at incredible rates.His plan is simple: find the power source and shut it down, but things take an unexpected turn, and he's in for the shock of his life
1. Prologue

**an/: This takes place by the time Harry Potter is grown up, just a few days before the epilogue of Deathly Hallows takes place (of course my story is an AU) and after The Atlantis Complex in Artemis Fowl**

**I know, the beginning is short, and a bit slow, but it gets better so just bear with me for now, okay? **

**Anyway, enjoy! **

**;)**

**

* * *

**Artemis Fowl stepped into Captain Short's office. "Holly-"

"What do you want, Artemis? Can't you see that I'm kind busy here?" she motioned to the large pile of papers piled on top of her desk. Time travel, Opal hunting, the Atlantis Complex, Holly was more behind on work than ever. Plus, it was morning, some people are morning people, unfortunately, and Holly wasn't one of them.

"Nice too see you, too," Artemis replied with a smirk. "Anyway, there's something I think you should be aware of." Holly said nothing so he continued. "Do you recall me saying that I was putting a stop to my criminal activities?" she nodded. "Yes…well, that's not working out for me so well."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised," she muttered. The elf turned to Artemis. "Is that all you came down here to tell me?"

"No, there's something I need to tell you and Foaly. You know where he is?"

_He's counting his words again_, Holly realized. This was not a good sign. "He on the treadmill in the back room," Artemis opened his mouth to speak, but Holly cut him off. "He's trying to 'get into shape' so that he can jog at the same pace as his wife," she shuddered, "I wouldn't go in there if I were you. It is a horrifying sight."

Then, as if right on cue, Foaly stepped into the room. A sweat towel hung around his neck and he was whistling to himself. The centaur stopped when he realized that he wasn't alone.

There was an awkward moment of silence.

Artemis cleared his throat. "Er...hello, Foaly, your family is doing well, I presume?"

"What do you want, mudboy?" he asked suspiciously.

Artemis sighed. "I have decided that instead of stopping my criminal activities completely, I shall just keep them down to a minimum. And of course I am still working on The Project. The only difference will be that this time the costs will be funded by stolen money instead of my own. So I am going to build a new ice cube. And I've been doing research on what exactly are the major contributions to global warming. However, my results were unexpected. It appears that at least ninety percent of what is causing global warming is coming from an unidentified power source. Somehow it is actually consuming the ozone layer itself, literally! Over the past few months or so I have been carefully observing this 'mystery substance'. I have discovered there isn't a single location for it. Meaning, that it can be found scattered in several places almost everywhere in the world. But it is not evenly distributed; some of these places are more powerful than others. The closest one of these powerful places is in England and on the English/Scottish border. I have already investigated and there is a place in London, a pub, to be precise; few people seem to notice it, and those who come in, never come out. I figured that there must be some sort of secret passage that's hidden in there, leading to this power place." _Two hundred and thirty words_, thought Artemis,_ two hundred and thirty divided by forty-six is five. Perfect_.

"So what's the plan?" Holly asked, "We go to England and look for some giant mysterious power source?"

"Well, yes and no, you see, it's not that simple…"

Foaly rolled his eyes. "Oh, **this** should be interesting!"

Artemis smiled his classic vampire-like smile. "Yes; yes it will be."

* * *

**Please review! I have a really good idea planned out for this, but I want to know what you guys think.**


	2. Chapter 1

**I just saw the new Harry Potter movie! It was AWESOME! **

**Anyway, I would like to thank my first reviewer, meep!**

**Now here's the next chapter!**

* * *

Lily Potter loved Diagon Alley. She to look at the broomsticks in the display windows, she loved to see all the cute little animals at the pet shop. She also loved to play with the wands in Olivander's shop, imagining she was her father defeating the evil Lord Voldemort! But most of all, she loved her Uncle George's joke shop. Lily had long run out of pranking material from last year. All of the candies were eaten; toy wands broken; and she had lost just about everything else. This is why when Lily heard that they were going back to Diagon Alley that day to shop for her brothers' school suplize, Lily pratically jumped out of bed.

"But we're not going until after lunch."

Lily's shoulders sank. After lunch? What was she supposed to do for five whole hours? She'd be eighty by the time they left!

She walked down the stairs while grumbling in annoyance. _This is so unfair!_ thought Lily angrily, as she poured herself some cereal.

The Potter's dog, Padfoot, eyed her cereal hungrily. He gave her a hopeful look.

Lily giggled, throwing Padfoot a cherio. The dog jumped up and caught it in midair. She knew that it was impossible to resist that face.

"Busted," said a voice from behind her. Lily jumped, turning around she saw it was none other than her annoying older brother, James. "MUM!" he called, "LILY'S BEEN FEEDING THE DOG AGAIN!"

"Lily, you know that Padfoot has his own food. That stuff's not good for him," Ginny called back.

Lilly rolled her eyes and zoned out as her mother continued to give her the lecture she had heard at least a million times. She stick her tongue out at James, who was smirking triumphly.

Well, boys will be boys.

* * *

Artemis turned on his communicator, Holly's face popped up on the screen.

"Holly it is me, Artemis."

She turned around. "You ready?"

"Yes, I am free tomorrow, we will do it then."

"Do what?"

Artemis jumped. Turning around, he saw that, standing there behind him was Myles Fowl.

"Myles what are you doing here?" Artemis demanded.

"This is my house too, you know, Artemis!" he crossed his arms stubbornly and stick out his tongue.

Artemis froze. Eight words. Eight divided by two was four. Four. Death. His heart skipped a beat.

"What language were you speaking?" asked Myles curiously.

Five words. Artemis sighed in relief. _Get a grip, Artemis! _he told himself, _you are being completely irrational!_ But why had Myles asked what language he had been speaking? Then he remembered. Of course! He was talking to Holly in Gnommish!

"French," he answered quickly.

Although Gnommish didn't even sound remotely close to French, this answer satisfied the three-year-old. But Myles wasn't done questioning, as he opened his mouth to speak, Artemis said, "Myles, I'm kind of busy right now. Why don't you go play with your brother?"

Reluctantly, Myles went off to go find Becket, while muttering something under his breath that sounded a lot like "Artemis is a simple-toon."

"Sorry about that, Holly," he apologized. "My brother Myles was there, I had to take care of him. Anyway, I'm free tomorrow afternoon after lunch. are you ready, Captain?"

"Totally, let's go save the world."

* * *

Lily sat on the sofa watching muggle television with Padfoot snuggling by her feet. Even though she was born to a pureblood family Lily used muggle technology regularly. the "muggle room" as her family called it, was a room in a wizard house, free of magic, allowing electricity to work. The room was complete with an electricity generator. The idea was invented by Lily's grandfather, Arthur Weasley, originally used for research purposes only, although some wizard families, like the Potter's, had one in their own home. Sometimes Lily hung out in the room when she wanted some time alone. She liked watching the telly, playing on the Wii, listening to the stereo, and going on the thing muggles called "the internet".

At the moment she was watching a show called _Spongebob Squarepants_. The show ended, and the muggle advertisments came on. Lily moaned and turned off the TV. She looked at her dog. "When will the afternoon come?"

"Lily!" a voice called, it was her brother, Albus.

"I'm in the muggle room!"

Albus stepped in. "Mum told me to get you. It's time for lunch."

Lunch? "YES!" Lily exclaimed, jumping off the couch, startling poor Padfoot, who began to bark in alarm. But she was too happy to notice, Lily skipped off happily while humming the Spongebob theme song.

* * *

"Mummy, Daddy! It's Uncle George's shop! Can we go? Please? Can we?" Lily bounced up and down with excitement.

"Sorry, Dear. Maybe next time."

"Next time? That won't be until next year!" she whined.

"Come on, Lily. Your brother needs a wand."

Lily pouted, but followed her parents. _What if I just go back and buy one thing? _she wondered._ I won't be gone long and I could catch up to them. They wouldn't even notice if I left_.

Little did she know the shop was closed for the day.

* * *

According to wizard law Artemis should not have been able to see the Leaky Cauldron at all. But Master Fowl did not miss very much. As for Butler, well, when you're trained at Madame Ko's, you are taught to notice every detail of your surroundings.

Staying hidden under Holly's shield, the team followed a man into the strange-looking shop. They watched as the man went to the back of the pub and tapped the brick wall with a stick. Then, before their very eyes, the bricks rearranged themselves, leaving a gapping hole, large enough for even Butler to fit through, in the wall. But what was even more intruging was not the wall itself, but what was behind it. It appeared to be a market of some sort.

"Well, here goes nothing," whispered Holly.

* * *

Lily knocked on the shop's door. Nothing. "Hello?" then Lily saw it. There was a "closed" sign on the door.

Angrily, she stomped her foot in frustration. Oh well, might as well go find the others. Fighting back tears, Lily searched for her family. It took her five minutes to realize that they had moved on without her.

Now frantic, she darted her eyes in all directions, hoping to find her family. But there were just too many people! What if she never saw them again? She would die out here alone. Slowly whither away of starvation. Maybe her family was glad she was gone. One less person to feed; one less person to share the muggle room with; one less person to look after. Perhaps they really wouldn't miss her.

The scared nine-year old leaned again the stone building, as she began to cry.

* * *

Artemis skimmed the crowd. If he wanted information the best place to get it from was a child. One old enoug ho understand what was going on, but young enough so they would still be fairly naive and not get suspicious of him. But all of the kids seemed to be with their families. Surely the adults would suspect something if he just went over and started randomly asking questions.

What kind of place was this, anyway? It appeared to be a street filled with shops, but these were no shops Artemis had ever heard of before. And the people were strange as well. Most of them wore long cloaks and carried around sticks. Some even wore pointed hats. Artemis did have an idea, but it was just too rediculous for even him to believe.

The trio was silent. Neither Butler, nor Holly or Artemis had uttered a single word ever since they had stepped through the brick wall. The street was so crowded that the group had several close-calls with near run-ins with other people. Butler didn't like it. People. Everywhere. Any one of them could be an assassin.

Then, by sheer luck, Artemis found what he was looking for. A little girl, no older than nine or ten years old, was leaning against a wall, sobbing quietly. And best of all, she was alone. This was the perfect opportunity.

Normally Artemis would have though out his plan more, going through all the possible scenarios that may occur. But with the Atlantis Complex still happening, he didn't even bother checking with Holly or Butler. Making sure no one was looking, he stepped out from under the shield, and walked over to the girl.

Now, Artemis did not have much experience in comforting others- especially little crying girls. But he had read enough books on phycology to have a basic understanding of what to do.

He cleared his throat. "Excuse me, are you alright?" he said the girl in the most sympathetic tone he could manage.

The girl looked up at him and shook her head. But what she did next was the very last thing Artemis would have expected; she ran up, and hugged him, crying even more. Artemis stiffened. The book hadn't covered anything like this.

"Please don't cry, little girl," Artemis told her. "Tell me what's wrong."

She nodded, wiping her tears (and snot) on her shirt sleeve. She spoke in a shaky voice from crying for so long. "I-I d-d-d-don't know where Mummy, or Daddy, or Al, or J-James are. I looked everywhere! I think I'm l-lost."

Artemis could help but feel a little guilty. She had no idea that he was just using this girl, only pretending to care so that he could get answers.

"Come on," he said to her," we'll find them."

As soon as he said that, the girl suddenly became instantly cheery. "Oh, thank you! I'm Lily by the way, Lily Potter."

"Nice to meet you, Lily. I'm Alfonse," he said, remembering the name he had used a couple years ago when he and Butler had been robbing that bank in Germany.

"Doesn't my name sound familiar?..." when Artemis shook his head, she sighed. "My daddy is Harry Potter! Are you a muggle or something?- Not that there's anything wrong with that!" she added quickly.

"That depends. What is a muggle?"

"Someone who isn't a witch or a wizard," Lily replied.

_Ah, so they are wizards. Intruging_.

Artemis knew he had to find out more. "Tell me more about your father, Lily."

"Okay! So he was...what do you call it when your parents die?"

"An orphan?"

"Yeah, that! Anyway, so he was one of those, because the evil wizard, Voldemort, killed them when he was a baby. And when he grew up, he killed Voldemort!" there was no mistaking the pride in her voice. Artemis continued to listen to Lily as she proceeded to tell him more and more about her father's life. "...He's really really smart," she said, "and really really brave. And really- right over there! DADDY!" Lily ran up and hugged her father.

A woman with flaming red hair, who Artemis assumed to be Lily's mother, looked furious. "Lillian Luna Potter! Where were you? We were worried sick! How DARE you walk off without permission! You are in so much trouble, Missy!"

"Perhaps next time you should check to make sure you have all of your children with you," Artemis cut in silkily. He was surprised by his own bluntness.

They turned to him. "And who are you?" asked Harry.

Before Artemis could answer, Lily said. "That's Alfonse, Daddy. He helped me find you guys!"

Harry reguarded this boy with curiousity. "Where's your family, son?"

"Shopping. They let me go off on my own. I promised to meet them somewhere."

Now it was Lily's turn to be suspicious. "But I thought you said you were a muggle."

"...I am."

"So a squib, then?" one of the boys put in.

"Yes."

"Well, thank you for finding Lily, we appreciate it very much," he shook the boy's hand.

"Oh, it was no trouble at all, sir. I'm happy to help. But I must be going, my parents will be wondering where I am."

"Do you have to go?" asked Lily.

Artemis nodded.

"Yes, well, we certainly won't stop you," Harry said. "Thanks again, Alfonse, for everything."

Artemis gave him a polite nod, and headed in the other direction.

"Good-bye, Alfonse!" Lily called.

* * *

"Of course! It all makes sense now. They were wizards! We all know that humans don't used all parts of their brain. There must be some part of the mind that only a few people have access to. And somehow this part of the brain allows them to collect energy, thus creating 'magic'. And of course, we are all well aware of the fact that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed. And what does most energy convert into? Heat!"

"And you're saying _that's_ what causing global warming?" Holly asked.

"Well, not all of it. The use of fossil fuels and polution are also causes to it, but this makes up the majority of what is destroying the ozone layer."

Holly and Butler looked at each other. They were both thinking the same thing: _he's insane_. It was completely unlike Artemis to just go wander off like that, even if he did know what he was doing. He always weighed his options before acting. It was the Atlantis Complex that was making him act so impulsive. But was he right? Probably. Complexed or not, Artemis was still Artemis after all.

_Oh well, I guess it could be worse_, Holly thought._ At least he's not Orion_. She shuddered. Yeah, it could be much, **much** worse.

* * *

**Wow, I think this is the longest chapter I ever wrote for anything! I hoped that was long enough for you guys. **

**For thoughs of you who are American, I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving this Thursday, only two more days! And for those of you who are not, I hope you have a great weekend in gerneral. **

******Please review! Pretty please? *Makes adorable puppy face* **  



	3. Chapter 2

**Mourningstar13: Thank you for reviewing, I'm so glad you like it! I'll try to bring out the new chapters as quickly as I can, but I discovered that a lot of the time when I do them too quickly, the chapters are short with choppy writing and tons of typos.**

**Bob: Sadly, (for the time being at least) Artemis probably won't be going to Hogwarts :(**

**Note: The Opal in this chapter is the Opal from the past, not the one in jail **

**Anyway, sorry for the short chapter, but this seemed like a good ending. And as always, reviews are very much appreciated!**

* * *

Opal Koboi shivered. Of all place where she could possibly hide from the LEP, why had she chosen Antarctica? Sure, it seemed like a good idea at the time. It was a nice, isolated area with no Mudmen or other fairies to worry about, this seemed to be the perfect place to plan world domination. Nobody would guess she was here. Not even that blasted Artemis Fowl! She cackled insanely.

But really, she should've packed better for the trip. She was already out of bonbons, what was she going to do now? How could she possibly survive without her precious chocolate? She would never make it. Time to switch locations. Where to go to now? America? No, too obvious. Then something hit her. She recalled once, long ago, hearing stories about Mud-men with magic. They grown-ups had said they were just stories, but Opal knew better. Legend was that the most likely place one would find them is in the United Kingdom. What could she do if she mesmerized a wizard? Preferably a child, they were easier to control. The optoins were endless.

Once again, Opal giggled hysterically. "Let the games begin," she whispered.

* * *

Harry turned to his wife. "Did that boy look familiar to you at all?" he asked her.

Ginny barely even looked up from her copy of the _Daily Prophet_. "You mean Alfonse? No...not that I can recall, why do you ask?" It was later that night, and the Potter's were having dinner. "Lillian Potter! What have I told you about feeding the dog?"

Lily pouted. Well, she had **almost** gotten away with it. "But he likes them more than I do. If _I_ ate them it would be a waist," she reasoned. But Lily knew it was a pointless battle to argue with her mother about eating her vegetables. She sighed dramatically and picked at her brustle sprouts. _How do people actually **eat **these?_ she wondered.

"I mean," Harry continued, "I feel like I've seen the kid before, you know?"

"I liked him," Lily said. "He was nice."

"He was weird," James commented.

Albus nodded in agreement. "Yeah! I mean, his eyes were two different colors!"

The others looked puzzled. "They were?"

"Yeah, one was blue and the other was hazel. I'm the only one who noticed it?"

"Hmm...that is rather odd-sounding," Ginny said thoughtfully, "are you quite sure about that?"

"I'm positive."

"That's so cool!"

They all turned to stare at James. "What? Oh, come on. You have to admit, having eyes that are two different colours is pretty wicked, right?" the continued to stare. James sunk down in his seat. "Never mind."

"But even if you do remember him, where could you have possibly seen the boy before?"

"I'm not sure," Harry admitted, "but I remember it was something important. Lily, what exactly did Alfonse say to you, dear?"

"I don't really remember..." Lily picked at her food. "He asked me if I was okay and stuff, oh yeah, and he had never heard of you, Daddy."

"He didn't? But I thought the boy said he was a squib."

"He did."

"Well what kind of person who grew up in the magic world has never heard of Harry Potter?" James scoffed. "Obviously, he's lying."

Lily look banged the table. "No! Alfonse would never do that! He's nice!"

It was then Harry made a horrible discovery. "Hey, my wand is gone!"

* * *

Artemis Fowl the second studied the stick in his hand with great interest. It was a wand of some sort, no doubt. He ran several tests and analyzed the results carefully, taking notes on every little detail he could find. He had cleverly snatched it from Potters back pocket while they were shaking hands.

Twirling the prize between his fingers, he couldn't help but wonder: with this single piece of wood, I could make millions. Billions! He tried to imagine all the gold, piles and piles of it! And suddenly he felt a strange giddiness inside of him, like a child at the toy store. Oh, he had forgotten how much fun this was! Why had he ever stopped?

"Artemis, you there?"

Artemis jumped, snapping out of his daydream. Turning around in his chair, he saw Butler.

Butler pointed to the wand. "What's that?"

"It is my experiment, Butler," the Irish boy replied calmly.

With horror, Butler realized he was starting to count his words again. "Where did you get it?"

Artemis shrugged.

"Please tell me you didn't steal that from the wizard-person!"

"You know I very well could," Artemis said, "but I'd be lying."

"Artemis-"

"Just think about it, Butler. Look at the bigger picture. This project could very well be saving thousands of lives."

Butler, however, was not convinced. He did not like the idea of a powerful, mysterious object in the hands of his employer. They didn't even know what it did. One wrong move, and Master Artemis could be vaporized on the very spot! Okay, that seemed a bit far-fetched, but Butler still wasn't so sure this was a good idea. What if the owner came here looking for it? Then what? Who knew what these wizards were capable of!

And as it turned out, he was right to be cautious. Because for Artemis, he may had already crossed the line. Stealing Harry Potter's wand wasn't just risky, it could very well be his fatal flaw...


	4. Chapter 3

Meanwhile, Harry Potter paced back and fourth nervously.

"Calm down, Harry," said Ginny. "It has to be here somewhere! It's not like your wand just got up and walked away on its own."

But Harry did not calm down. How could he possibly calm down? His wand was gone! The very same wand that had been with him for over two decades. His wand was always with him, _always_. Without it, he felt like something were missing, almost as if he had just lost a close friend. He had lost it over two days ago and no matter how hard he looked it couldn't be found.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Harry groaned, and walked over, prepared to tell anyone to go away.

Opening the door, he realized it was none other than Ron, Hermione, and Rose Weasley standing there. But something was wrong. Harry noticed that Hermione's eyes were extremely red and swollen from crying for what looked like hours. Ron had a very un-Ron-like serious expression on his face and Rose was clutching her mother's hand tightly, while bitting her trembling lip, as if trying hard not to cry, but she looked like she was about to burst into tears at any moment.

Forgetting all about his lost wand for the moment, Harry let them in.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked with concerned.

"It's Hugo!" Hermione wailed, "w-we can't find hi-him anywh-where!"

Ginny hugged her sister-in-law. "How long has he been gone?"

"Two days," Ron said.

"We've searched everywhere!" Rose put in, "Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley, Godrick's Hollow, and even Muggle London!"

Hermione baled like a baby. Ron fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Where did you last see him?"

Rose answered. "When he asked if he could go over to Rodrick Thomas's house across the street. Only...he didn't come back. We asked the Thomas's where he was-"

"Dean said that he never arrived," Ron put in, interrupting his daughter.

"Maybe we should report his absence to the Ministry."

Hermione shook her head. "No good. I've already tried that."

"And?"

"They suspect that he was kidnapped. They've questioned a number of people, but so far they all have been declared innocent. Except for one..."

"Who?"

"His family go a long ways back with the Ministry, even though his name has been on the wanted list for years."

Harry put two and two together. "Oh," he said.

Ginny, however, was not going to give up without a fight. If the Ministry wouldn't help find her missing nephew, then she would herself! "Well, well," she said. "Then let's go pay our old friend a little visit, shall we?"

* * *

Artemis spent the rest of the day locked away in his labratory, determined to find out as much about this stick as he possibly could. It was only when Mrs. Fowl called everyone down for dinner, did he leave the lab and took a break.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Becket and Myles had made an extraordinary discovery that day: where boogers came from. They were in the middle of explaining it to Butler and their parents in extreme detail, when Artemis came down.

Becket jumped up and down. "Arty! Arty! We learned something today!"

"You'll never guess where boogers come from," said Myles.

Artemis stared at his brothers in both horror an disgust. "I think I shall pass," he said finally.

Nobody spoke for the rest of dinner.

* * *

"Do I have to?"

"Oh, stop your whining!"

Harry pouted like a five-year-old and gave Ginny a look, as he use the old-fashioned knocker on the creepy-yet-elegant stone door. A small boy around Albus's age opened it. "Yes?" He was extremely pale with light blonde hair, looking almost exactly like his father did at that age, the only really noticable difference was that his face was rounder, a trait he probably got from his mother.

"What's your name, little boy?" asked Ginny.

He looked indignant. "First of all," he said, "I am not a 'little boy'. And secondly, my name is Scorpius Malfoy. What do you want?"

"We would like to have a word with your father."

Scorpius looked suspicious. "Why? What for? You're not from the Ministry, are you? Dad says I'm not allowed to let anybody in from the Ministry."

"No, of course not," said Ginny, before Harry could answer.

"Oh good. So what are your names?"

"Ginny and Harry Potter."

Scorpius looked at them as though they were crazy. "No, I mean seriously."

"We're telling the truth, kid."

"Oh yeah? Prove it! If you're really Harry Potter, then where's your scar, huh?"

Harry sighed. This wasn't the first time he'd been asked that question before. He lifted up his bangs, reveling a lighting-bolt shaped scar.

The boy stared at it in awe. "No way," he breathed. Scorpius looked up at Harry. "Can I touch it?"

"What?" Harry stared at the boy blankly.

"Never mind," he said quickly. "Anyway, please, come in."

They did.

"Wipe your shoes on the matt," Scorpius instructed. "Mum **hates** dirt."

Malfoy Manor had not changed much since their last visit. It was both beautiful and frightening at the same time. Something about the place gave off a cold, unfriendly feeling. _This is _not _the kind of place I would like to grow up in_, decided Ginny.

After walking through several ornate corridors, Scorpius lead them into an elegant sitting room.

A small green head peeked in. "Excuse me, Master Scorpius? Foo-foo is done scraping the pots and pans in the kitchen."

"Go away, Foo-foo," he said through clenched teeth. "We have **company**," he jerked his head towards Harry and Ginny.

The House Elf's eyes widened. "Can it be? Harry Potter! Oh, Foo-foo has always dreamed of meeting Harry Potter! It is such an honor!" Foo-foo began kissing Harry's shoe.

"Foo-foo. Kitchen. _Now_." The elf didn't budge. Scorpius gave them an apologetic smile. "Sorry, about her. I don't know what's gotten in to the thing's head. I'm going to go get my dad."

He returned a couple minutes later, with Foo-foo **still** kissing Harry's shoe (he was going to need to give it a good polishing after this.)

"My father will be with you in just a moment," he said.

* * *

**'Just a moment' later...**

Draco Malfoy came down to the sitting room. He reguarded the two Griffindors with distaste. "_You_," he sneered.

"_Me_," Harry sneered back, mocking his tone.

"What do you want, _Potter_?" he demanded.

"We have a few questions for you,_ Malfoy_."

He rolled his eyes. "Very well, get on with it."

"Recently, young Hugo Weasley has gone missing-"

"And I care because?"

"Well, for starters, you have been acting oddly for the past few months. Does it seem odd that when the Ministry called a meeting, everybody showed up but you..."

"I told them, my son had the Chicken Pox!" Malfoy was indignant now. What was this all about? They couldn't possibly think that HE kidnapped the little brat, did they? What would he want with him, anyway? How could they even think such a thing? Okay, sure, he may have done some things in his life that he wasn't too proud of, but this-THIS was insane! "Are you accusing me of kidnapping the boy, I swear I-"

Suddenly, Arthur Weasley's head appeared in the fire place.

"Why are all these Weasleys in my house?" he demanded.

"Harry," he said. "The Ministry just reported a muggle using magic! They want you to go check it out. Bring Ron as backup-he could use the experience to see what muggles really look like in their natural-"

"Okay, so suddenly, I'm not important enough?" Draco demanded.

"We're not done with you yet, Malfoy. Ginny, bring him down to the Ministry for further questioning. I'll go check it out. Where's the interferience?"

"Ireland. Dublin to be exact."

* * *

"Ireland? Why Ireland?"

"Because the Ministry said so. Any more questions?"

Harry then realized something: the boy, Alfonse, was from Ireland. He could tell by the way he spoke. And there was something strange about him, Harry couldn't quite put his finger on it though. Was it possible that Alfonse stole his wand and was now somehow using magic on his own? Was that even possible? Besides it made no sense why he would do it! Every wand was uniquely fit for a different individual. Maybe he didn't know, the boy said he was a squib after all, but something told Harry that he had been lying. And who ever said that Alfonse took it in the first place? It didn't have to be him. The boy couldn't be all bad, after all, he had brought Lily back to them.

Harry's thought process was interrupted by Ron, who stopped dead in his tracks, causing Harry to bump into him, nearly falling down.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Ron demanded.

Harry looked, and to his amazment, a gate nearly fourty feet tall stood before them. And what was really incredible was that it was made entirely out of solid gold. His jaw dropped open.

But it made no sense! They had been wandering through the Irish wilderness, and then suddenly, BOOM! A giant gate! Why would someone bother putting such a fancy gate if no one could see it? Perhaps they built it out here for a reason, so it would be hard to find. Well, there was only one way to find out.

Ron drew his wand. "Alohamora!" the gate opened, but all it led to was more wilderness. Had it all just been a trick? Something told him otherwise. Letting his curiousity get the better of his, Harry decided t follow his gut instinct.

They went on for nearly an hour, passing several gates like the last one, but each one led to more and more wilderness. They were beginning to feeling like they would get there. Well, wherever 'there' was. When, suddenly, they came across a large fortress, like a castle, not as big as Hogwarts, but still huge! It was old-looking and oranately decorated.

"Well, what now?" Ron asked. "We just walk thorugh the front door?"


	5. Chapter 4

"Nope," Harry said, "there's this little thing I like to call apperating."

* * *

Harry and Ron reappeared in a room full of computers and other muggle technology that Ron could not identify. A young boy, no older than fifteen or sixteen years of age was typing on two keyboards at once one with his left hand and other with his right, at incredible speed! It was only when the boy turned around did Harry recognize his face.

"Alfonse," he sneered.

"Who?" asked Ron, confused.

"That's the boy I told you about-the one in Diagon Alley."

"Oh."

Harry turned back to face Alfonse. The nerve of him! "Where is my wand?" Harry demanded, his voice was low and dangerous.

Despite this, the boy showed no signs of fear. In fact, if anything, he looked rather amused. "So it was a wand," he made a quick note of that.

"Yes, my wand. And I want it back."

"I'm afraid that's not possible at the moment."

Ron stepped forward, pulling out his own wand. "Look, kid. I don't know who you think you are. But you can't just go around-"

Alfonse smirked. "Then you obviously are not familiar with my work. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Artemis Fowl the second."

Not Harry knew why the boy looked so familiar. Of course he knew about Artemis Fowl. Who didn't know about him? He had been the world's youngest criminal mastermind, following in his father's footsteps. But recently, the Fowl's had claimed to have gone "straight". Although clearly, at least Artemis, had other plans. He was also all over the news, both muggle and magical for being the boy who disappeared for three years, then came back, the same age he was when he had left. Nobody knew why or how.

Ron, however, either did not remember this, or did not know, he sniggered at the name. "Artemis? Your name is Artemis? But you're a boy!"

Artemis straightened, fixing his eyes on Ron. "It is my father's name. And technically speaking, Artemis means "the hunter". Rather vague, don't you think so, Mr. Wizard?"

Harry was growing impatient. "Just give me my wand!"

This time, Artemis did laugh. Oh, how he missed tormenting people. "And what if I don't?"

"You don't scare us"! Ron pointed his wand at him.

"I'll take that," a large hand swapped Ron's wand.

"Hey!" Ron cried. He looked up, and standing there was Butler.

* * *

"Show me your wand, little boy," Opal commanded.

"I can't," Hugo said.

Opal burned red with fiery. "What do you mean you 'can't'?" she demanded.

"I don't get my wand until I'm eleven."

Oh, great. This was just perfect. Tricking the boy had been easy enough, all she needed was a huge lollypop to lure him into her trap, but what use was he if he did have a wand?

She weighed her options. Well, there was always the easy way, she could kill him, but what of he turned out to somehow be useful later on? Opal decided to keep the brat alive-at least, for the time being.

* * *

Artemis sighed. As amusing as this was, he was not a kidnapper. "You are free to go," he told them. Butler handed Ron his wand back and opened the door for them.

They eyed him suspiciously. "You're just letting us go?"

"Unless you would rather stay..."

"Come on, Harry! Let's get out of here!"

But Potter remained stubborn. "I'm not going anywhere without my wand!"

"Come on, mate!" Ron urged, "we'll buy you a new wand!"

Artemis smirked. "Listen to your friend, Potter."

Harry was liking this kid less and less. He clenched his hands into fists.

"Arty, come down for lunch!" a voice called.

"I shall be down in a minute or two, mother," Artemis called back.

Ron snorted. "_Arty_?"

But a look from Butler shut him up right away. Something told him that this was not the kind of person you wanted angry with you.

"Butler," said Artemis, "why don't we exscourt our two guests out properly?"

"Of course, Master Artemis."

_Fours again._ Artemis resisted the urge to flinch.

Ron was indignant. "And why should we listen to you?" he demanded.

Butler pulled out a pistol from his pocket.

Ron recognized the object. He had seen them in pictures before, but never up close like this.

He gulped. "That's a gun, isn't it? A type of muggle weapon?"

Butler nodded. "Ah, so you've heard of them. Would you like to see how it works?"

It took Ron about thirty seconds to understand what the threat meant. Once he did he shook his head frantically.

"Well keep up that attitude of yours, and you just might get to."

**That** shut him up.

* * *

Draco Malfoy insisted that he didn't do it, eventually, without any real proof, they were forced to release him.

* * *

Harry and Ron had come back from their little "trip" tired, sweaty, and angry. Their wives knew better than to ask what happened.

The Ministry decided to look into the problem behind Harry's missing wand, but first they had a much bigger crisis at hand: children kept dissapearing. It started out as only Hugo. Then the day after Harry and Ron came back there was a report of two more missing kids: Venus Corner and Olivia Creevy. Both vanished without a trace.

"Mummy, I'm going out to walk Padfoot," Lily said.

Ginny fidgeted nervously. Was it a good idea to let her nine-year-old go out alone with all these kidnappings going on?

"Mum, did you hear me? I'm going out to walk the dog."

Her mother sighed. "Very well, Lily. But stay in the area and come back by dark."

Lily snorted. "Mum, I'll be fine."

"Just promise me?"

Lily sighed dramatically. "Okay, fine. I promise. Can I go now?"

Ginny laughed. "Yes, you can."

* * *

Lily wasn't the least bit scared. Besides, she had Padfoot to protect her. No one in their right mind would dare go near him! She giggled and padded the dog on the head. "You protect me, would you, boy?"

He responded with a loud happy bark.

The two continued their walk as they always did. Their plan was to go around Godrick's Hollow in a big circle and then back again. The only part Lily didn't like to go through was the graveyard. Lily always found cemeteries creepy and depressing. So Lily usually avoided it whenever possible.

Lily noticed that it was starting to get dark quickly. Mum said she wanted her home before dark. She decided it would be best to head back around now. But as the two started no their way home, the sky continued to darken. Lily knew her way around the area in the dark, but it still scared her.

_I could go through the cemetery_, Lily thought. She shuddered. She would much rather not go through the graveyard- especially at night. But it was the quickest way to get home.

Taking a deep breath, Lily steeped foot inside, gripping Padfoot's leash tightly.

They were about two thirds of the way through, when Padfoot stopped and scratched at a grave. Lily wiped the dirt off of the headstone and was shocked. Because on that head was the name of a person who her parents often talked about. The very person she was named after. The carved-in letters read: **_Lillian Evans Potter. _**Her grandmother. The words were just light enough outside to make them out, but still, Lily had to squint to see them clearly in the darkness.

She looked at Padfoot in awe. _Did he do that on purpose? How could he possibly know?_ Padfoot was a smart dog, but sometimes what he did frankly amazed her. Some people say that animals don't have souls, but Lily knew otherwise.

She stood quietly for a few minutes paying her respects for her grandmother. Her eyes were now adjusted to the dark and she could read the name **_James Potter_** on the headstone next to Lily's. She had almost forgotten why she was there, when suddenly, Padfoot's ears perked up. He tugged frantically on the leash.

"Padfoot, you crazy dog! What's gotten into you?"

Padfoot yelped, and tried to pull Lily away from the graveyard and the potential dangers it held at the moment.

Lily heard something. A quiet rustle in the bushes. She jumped.

A small girl, stepped out from the bushes. She had long dark hair and eyes. The girl looked at her. "Hi," she said.

"Hi," Lily responded.

Padfoot let out a low growl from the back of his throat.

"Nice dog," the girl said, coming up to Padfoot. She tried to pet him, but he cringed away.

"Oooooookaay," she said, "never mind."

"I'm Lily Potter," Lily said, extending her hand.

The girl took it. "I'm Belinda."

"Are you new here? I don't think I recognize you."

"Yes, as a matter-of-fact, I just moved in. Would you like to come see my house?"

Belinda smiled. Her brown eyes seemed to sparkle.

"I can't," said Lily, "I have to..." _wait, what did she have to do again?_

"It'll just be a minute. I'm sure your parents don't mind."

Lily looked into thoughs deep brown eyes. They smiled reassuringly at her, almost saying, _come, you can trust me_. But something in the back of Lily's mind was telling her to stay away, that she had to get home. But it was so far in the back of her head it was like a different person altogether. A person Lily could easily ignore. Thoughs eyes would not lie to her.

Only Padfoot knew something was wrong. He sensed a trap. Somehow. Sometime. Somewhere. This girl was not a friend. She was not to be trusted.

As it turns out, the dog was right.

* * *

**NOOOOOO! Don't go with her Lily! **

**Review!**

**Now I have to study for math before my parents catch me online.**


	6. Chapter 5

It had been a little over twenty four hours since Lily Potter's dissapearance. There were no leads yet.

"This is all my fault!" Ginny cried, "I should've never let her go out!"

This was all Ginny had been saying for the past day. James tries desperately to comfort his mother. He had never seen her like this. She was usually so calm and consentrated. "It wasn't your fault, Mum. I'm sure Lily's fine, and she has Padfoot to protect her. You'd have to be mad to mess with him! And Dad's reporting her to the Ministry, they'll find Lily and then everything will be okay, you'll see."" though it sounded like he was trying to reassure himself more than her.

Suddenly, there was a loud scream in the doorway.

"Albus?" Ginny called. "Albus, honey, are you okay?"

There was no reply.

Ginny stood up and ran to the door, she had already lost one child, she was not going to lose another. But Albus was there. He was frozen with fear.

"Albus, what happened?" asked James.

Too petrified with fear to speak, Albus pointed one shaky hand at the gruesome sight before them.

Lying on the ground, was a limp body, It lay there, unmoving. The body of a dog. Lily was nowhere in sight.

"PADFOOT!" James cried, he ran to the animal and began weeping.

Ginny let out a sound halfway between a gasp and a sob.

"It's okay, mum," James called, "he's breathing; the dog's alive!"

Ginny relaxed a little bit, but not enough to feel comfortable. If that was Padfoot then where was Lily?

She bent down to get a better look at the dog. James was right, he was breathing, but it was very shallow. It was truly a gory sight too, there was blood everywhere. "Oh my lord," she gasped, as Ginny noticed Padfoot's ear: it had literally been torn right off! And his back right leg was detached-only hanging from his body by a few shreds of skin. And there was something greenish is Padfoot's mouth. Ginny slowly reached her hand inside. _I can't believe I'm doing this_, she thought with disgust. Ginny pulled out a torn piece of cloth. She recognized the fabric because she had seen it yesterday on her daughter's shirt. Padfoot had been trying to protect her.

Once Albus found his words he began to rant. "I'm so so so so so so so sorry! I-I-I-I h-hea-heard th-this scratching s-sound at the door, and I o-opened it and he was j-j-j-just lying there!"

Ginny turned to James. "Get Anthony, he's a doctor. You know where he lives?"

James nodded.

"Good, go get him! And fast!"

He took off.

* * *

Anthony Goldstein had never been a particularly lose friend to Harry or Ginny. He was a Ravenclaw boy is Harry's year. Anthony was one of the sharpest boys at school and became a prefect in his fifth year with Padma Patil. After school Anthony studied to become a healer, making him the first ever Jewish wizard doctor. The reason why he was so successful was because he often would combine wizard and muggle medicine.

"MR. GOLDSTEIN! MR. GOLDSTEIN!" a young boy ran into his house. Anthony recognized the boy as James Potter, Harry Potter's oldest son.

He put down the book he was reading. "What is it?" Goldstein asked.

"You're a doctor, right?"

"Last time I checked."

"We need your help!"

"Do your parents know you're here?"

"Yes, my Mum sent me to get you-but there's no time for that! You have to come with me-now! It's an emergency!"

Anthony could see the fear in James's eyes. They seemed to be pleading for help. Anthony stood up and followed the thirteen-year-old to his house.

* * *

"Look, Anthony," said Ginny between sobs, "I know your job is to heal humans and not animals, but you have to understand-he...he was trying to save my baby..."

"No need, Mrs. Potter. I'll do whatever I can in my power to help your dog."

Ginny smiled through her tears. "Thank you."

* * *

Anthony did a quick overall study of the animal. He concluded that all in all, he had just made it. The kind of wounds he had suggested that he had been trying to fight off an intruder and almost got himself killed in the process.

"Padfoot needs proper medical treatment," Anthony explained, "I was able to treat his wounds the best I could and stop the bleeding with magic. But he could have infections, and I think he will probably have to have that leg amputated as well."

"Amputated?"

"That means it would have to be surgically removed."

"I know what it means," James grumbled, "but they won't really have amputate it, will they?"

"They most likely will. The leg is useless to him now. The best thing to do is to just get rid of the limb altogether. He has lost a lot of blood. It is critical for him to get professional help from a real veterinarian. I'm sorry, there's nothing more I can do."

Harry (who had returned from the Ministry sometime between now and the last break) nodded. "I understand, thank you so much."

"How are we going to get a vet? I don't think there are that many in the wizard world," wondered Ginny.

"I have a muggle-born friend who's sister is a professional veterinarian."

"Excellent. Where does she live?"

"France."  
"Are you kidding me? I hardly speak any French!"

"She speaks English, too. There's no need to worry."

"There better not be," he mumbled.

"Here's the address. You can apparate in this nearby vacant lot. Go down the street and make a left, you'll find her office there. Her name is Jessica Hampson."

"Got it, thanks."

Harry listened to Anthony's instructions. He carried Padfoot in that charmed purse Hermione had given him. But that didn't mean it wasn't still heavy.

_Blimey_, thought Harry, _how much does he weigh? _

He was in such a rush that he accidentally bumped into a man. "Regardez ou vous allez!" he man shouted angrily. (Translation: "Watch where you're going!") Which Harry had no idea what it meant.

Harry eventually found his way to the vet. He took Padfoot out of the purse and walked up to the woman at the front desk. "Excuse me," he said, "do you know where-"

"Je ne parle pas anglais," she said. (translation: "I do not speak English")

Harry knew enough French to piece together what she said._ Great, just great_, he thought. Harry tried to remember what French he knew. He had learned a little bit from Fleur and a little bit from when he was very little and still went to school with Dudley. He cleared his throat. "Moi chien," he pointed to Padfoot, "is...blesses," he unwrapped the blanket around the dog and the woman screamed. "Je desire...a voir Doctor Hampson." (translation (sort of): my dog was injured. I need to see Doctor Hampson")

"Hampson?" The woman repeated. "Un minute, si'l vous plait." (translation: "one minute please")

Harry waited next to a man with a pet parakeet. Harry couldn't tell what was wrong with the bird, but the man sure looked worried. When he saw Padfoot's leg the man gasped. "Qu'est arrive a votre chien?" he cried. (translation: "what happened to your dog?")

Harry tried to think of a response. He assumed that the man was asking him about Padfoot's leg, but he couldn't be certain. He opened his mouth to speak. "Um..."

Fortunately, he did not have to respond because just then the lady returned with a young woman who appeared to be in her late twenties. She had dirty blond hair that was pulled back in a tight ponytail.

"Hi," he said, "I'm Harry Potter."

Her face changed from happy to serious in an instant. "Ah, yes," she said, "Anthony called. Is it that bad?"

When he showed her the dog, she said in a forced calm voice, "come with me, right away."

* * *

**Note: I do not know French, I just used one of those online translator thingys**

**Please review!**


	7. Chapter 6

Artemis was looking extremely content with himself. The first part of the plan had been a success. They had taken the bait, now all that was left was to reel it in...

"Artemis?" Butler interrupted the boy's thought process. "What if those wizard people come back?"

The Irish child smiled evilly. "Whatever do you mean, _if_? Of** course** they will return! You needn't worry, it is all part of the plan."

"Okay, well, what about your family? Is this mission so important to you that you'll risk having them injured-or killed?"

Artemis felt a twinge of guilt at those words but he didn't know why. Nothing would making him discontinue this mission_. Nothing_. "Done and done, don't worry. It was quite easy, actually. All I needed were a few tickets to Disney World."

"Artemis, I know that you're nervous."

"Whatever do you mean, Butler?"

"You're talking in fives again."

"Am I?" Artemis asked, he paused, then added, "I didn't notice."

His fairy communicator thingy went off.

"Holly?" Artemis asked.

"Who else? Look, I have some bad news. Opal has been spotted."

"Which one?"

"The one from the past."

Artemis nodded. You could literally almost see the wheels turning in his head as he devised yet another ingenious plan. "Where did they see her?" he asked.

"Funny thing. Around the same place in England that we were. You don't think..."

"Yes, I'm sure of it. Opal knows about wizards, too."

* * *

"Oh, how cute are you?" Opal said, pinching Lily's cheek. "You will make a wonderful slave."

"Thank you," she said.

"Now, tell me, Sweetie. Where do you wizards get your wands?"

"Well, most of us go to Olivander's wand shop..."

Opal clapped her hands. "YAY! Excellent job, Lily! Perfect! You are my new favorite. Now tell me, where is this, Olivander's?"

"It's in Diagon Alley."

"Where? I've never heard of that place," she frowned.

"Don't worry, I know where it is. "

"Good. Now, here's the plan, at night we go get the wands, then after that, I have a special assignment for you and Hugo."

"Ooh! What is it, Mistress?"

Opal straightened, she liked the title Mistress. "It involves a certain human boy by the name of Artemis Fowl..."

* * *

"Mummy," Albus said, "will Padfoot be okay?"

Ginny put her arm around her son. She hoped the dog would make it, but she couldn't be so sure. She had always been more of a cat person-it was Harry's idea to get a dog in the first place. Ginny felt guilty about all those times she had yelled at Padfoot for eating the food off the counter, or ripping things up, or relieving himself inside the house. He was just doing was dogs do, afterall; how was he supposed to know it was wrong? Ginny had threatened to sell him on several occasions. Yet, now she realized that she didn't want to lose Padfoot. He was a member of the family-almost like another child. She turned to her tearful son and forced a reassuring (or at least, she hoped it was) smile. "I don't know, Sweetie," she said honestly, squeezing his shoulder, "I hope so."

**Three years earlier...**

_Harry, James, Lily, and Albus looked around the shelter. They couldn't believe that all of these animals didn't have homes._

_"I want that one!" Lily exclaimed, pointing to a small Yorkshire Terrier. "-No, wait! That one!" she peered at a Toy Poodle, "do you want to come home with me? I'll name you Sweetie-Pie." The animal looked at her in horror, it was obvious she did not approve of that name._

_"Dad, can we get the Doberman?" asked James hopefully._

_"Um...I don't think so."_

_"No!" Lily cried, "I want Sweetie-Pie!"_

_Sweetie-Pie growled viciously at the six-year-old girl, but Lily didn't seem to notice. She picked up the dog and cuddled it in her arms. "I love you, Sweetie-Pie. You're the best dog ever! Way better than that stinky Doorbermen!"_

_"It's a Doberman Pincher!"_

_"Whatever!"_

_Sweetie-Pie eventually got annoyed and nipped at Lily-not hard, but enough to make her let go._

_"DADDY!" Lily started crying. "SHE BIT ME!"_

_"I'm not surprised," Albus muttered, "you were squeezing it half to death!" _

_James grinned. "I changed my mind," he said, "I want the poodle instead." _

_"No!" she screamed, "she's a mean dog!" _

_"Exactly." _

_"James..." _

_"Okay, okay. I'm so oh very sorry." _

_"Hummpphh." _

_Albus wasn't really listening to them, he was looking at the dogs. The eight-year-old looked at each cage carefully. _

_"Dad," he said, "I want to take them all home!" _

_"You know we can't do that, Albus." _

_He continued to search, he wanted to find the perfect one for him. Then, he saw it, alone in a cage was a medium-sized multi-coloured dog. He looked at it. The dog looked back at him. Its deep brown eyes seemed to look directly into his soul. _

_One of the shelter workers smiled. "A beauty, isn't he?" Albus nodded in agreement. "It's a shame we won't have him around much longer." _

_"What do you mean?" he asked, looking up. _

_"Well, he's been here a while, and nobody has adopted him yet. Unless someone takes him in this week, he'll probably have to be humanely euthanized."_

_"WHAT?" James cried out of nowhere. "HOW CAN IT POSSIBLY BE HUMANE TO KILL HIM?" James then used several words that the author of this story is not allowed to use due to the fear that her parents might someday read this. _

_Albus's eyes widened in horror. He could feel tears coming. "B-but, you wouldn't really have to kill him, would you?" _

_"Look, the animal is unhappy here, and we need room for other animals, so if we don't have any other choice-" _

_She was interrupted by a very angry James Sirius Potter jumping up and down in rage and screaming many unpleasant things at the poor woman. _

_Albus reached into the cage and gently stroked the dog's head. "What's wrong with him?" _

_"He's usually very shy, he doesn't like people much. I'm surprised he even let you touch him." _

_"Oh, please," James said, pushing his brother aside, he reached in to pet the dog, but apparently, the dog did not wish to be petted. It cowered in fear and hid in the back of the cage, shivering. _

_"Stop it!" Ablus cried, "you're scaring him. He won't let you touch him unless you let him sniff your hand first so that he get your scent-and don't look him in the eye, that means you're a threat." _

_"And how do you know all this?" _

_"Unlike some people who spend all their time in the muggle room watching stupid shows like Spongebob-" _

_"I like Spongebob!" _

_"Hush, Lily." _

_"I actually watch educational shows, like Animal Planet."_

_"Are you kidding me? You hate learning new things!" _

_"Yeah, when it's boring like when mum tries to give us a history lesson. But, really, just try it. Let the dog sniff you, go on." _

_James did, and the dog eyed him for a moment with caution before letting the boy stroke him. _

_The shelter worker nodded, impressed. "Wow. You are sharp, kid. Are you going to be a vet when you grow up?" _

_"No. I want to be a professional Quidditch player." _

_"Wha-" _

_"I mean football!" _

_"Oooookaay then." _

_"So why is he so shy?" _

_"Well he had a pretty said life. He was born in a Puppy Mill where they raise dogs for money and often keep them in unclean cages and are cramped up. These people don't care at all about the animals, they just want cash." _

_"That's horrible!" _

_"But that wasn't the worst of it. Afterwords, he was bought by an illegal animal seller for dogfights. It's a place where they train dogs to fight each other for amusement-sometimes to the death."_

_"Then what happened?" _

_"Well, the police found the fighting ring and arrested the people. Then the dogs were taken to the shelter. Some of the dogs were able to adjust quickly...others, not so much. This guy here is still a bit weary around people." _

_"We'll take him!" he decided. Albus turned back to the dog. "Don't worry, you may have had a bad beginning, but that's never gonna happen again. You are going to be a part of a real family, and have the best life ever!" _

**Present day... **

Albus nodded, trying to swallow back tears. James always made fun of him for his sensitivity and called him a cry baby. But Albus couldn't help it. "Mum?" he whispered. "I don't want him to die."

"Shhh..." Ginny tried to soothe her son, "everthing's going to be okay, no one is going to die." Or at least, that's what she hoped.

* * *

**I know, a bit touchy at the end. But I'm a big animal-lover (in case that wasn't already obvious,) soon we'll back to more action and gory stuff. I have the next chapter or two already written out, now I just need to type it. Anyway, thank you to Psyco101 for reviewing my last chapter-and a bunch of other ones. I'm sorry it took me so long to update, I'll try to be quicker next time. In the mean time, please leave a review.**

**~The QAS **


	8. Chapter 7

**WARNING: The following chapter contains gruesome torture in gory detail. Some reader may be disturbed by the following content. So prepare yourselves. **

**If you wish, you may skip to after the line, although I hope you will try it. It really is some of my best work.**

* * *

Artemis paced back and fourth across his (very large) room nervously. "So the question is," he said, "what would Opal want with wizards?"

"Try saying that three times fast," muttered Holly.

"I mean, I highly doubt she is doing this to help the environment. I wonder what she wants . . . "

"Power, world domination, the death of her enemies?" Holly suggested sarcastically.

"But what drove her to go after wizards for it?" he wondered. "Why; would could she possibly gain?"

"What do you gain from crime?" Holly retorted. She had meant it as a joke, but apparently Artemis didn't know that.

He frowned. "That's a completely different matter," he protested.

"I'm sorry, Artemis. It was a joke - - honest. I didn't mean - - "

"It doesn't matter much now anyway, now does it, _Captain_?" he snapped.

Holly was taken aback. Artemis was usually so calm and collected. He hardly showed any emotion at all. This sudden outburst not only shocked her, it frankly scared her. The cold look in Artemis' eyes was one she hadn't seen in many years. "Artemis, I-I'm sorry - - "

"Just forget about it, Holly! I already said that it didn't matter anymore, didn't I? So let us move on. Now, what do you think she would do with . . . "

He got his answer right then. A small red-headed girl walked into the room. She couldn't have been older than nine years old. _How did she get in?_

"Lily?"

Although Butler looked calm, Artemis knew him well enough to be able to tell he was worrying about the same thing.

She smiled at him. A cold-blooded smile, though it didn't reach her eyes. In fact her eyes didn't seem focused, they looked far away, kind of like she was in a trance. "Hello, Artemis Fowl," 'Lily' said, pulling out a wand. Suddenly, she shouted. "Petrificus Totalus!"

Butler instinctively jumped in front of Artemis, protectively. A split second after he did this, Butler was hit by the spell and was petrified. Butler fell backwards, unable to move; he fell directly on top of Artemis. The poor boy didn't realize what was happening until it was too late.

Artemis tried to push Butler's body off of him, but it was no use. Butler had pinned him to ground. And let's face it, Artemis isn't exactly 'physically fit', so any attempts to push the large Eurasian man off of him were completely futile, and it would be fruitless try even try to wiggled out. He could feel his leg becoming numb from loss of blood circulation - - actually, he_ couldn't_ feel them. _I am completely doomed,_ Artemis thought, not caring that it was four words.

"Artemis?" came Holly's concerned voice from the fairy communicator. "Artemis, is everything okay?"

_No! No, everything is **not** okay, Holly!_ Artemis wanted to shout, but his voice wouldn't work.

Lily peered over at the communicator. "I'll take that," she said, crushing it under her foot. She punched Artemis hard in the arm.

He squealed in pain.

Lily looked at the boy who was thrashing and quivering uncontrollably. She laughed. "You thought that hurt? Well, get a load of this . . . CRUSIO ! ! !"

The feeling Artemis felt at that moment was a sensation beyond mere pain. There was no way, (even with his large vocabulary) to put this kind of mind-numbing torture int words.

After ten minutes, Artemis was just hoping that she would just simply kill him and get it over with already. Suddenly, without warning, Lily lowered her wand, and the pain subsided. She turned to the doorway, "you're turn, Hugo," she said.

An even smaller child, whom Artemis did not recognize, entered. He had red hair like her, and the two looked like they could be related. There was a knife in his hand. _Oh no_, Artemis thought.

Lily held up her hand. "But first," she said, "I think he needs a little makeover . . . . " she pulled out eyeliner, lipstick, blush, and eyeshadow. Within two minutes he looked like a circus clown! She nodded to the boy. "Okay, now can do it."

"Oh, Mistress will be so happy!" the boy cried excitedly. He took the blade, and made one big slash down his cheek. Fowl howled in pure agony.

The boy cut deeper, this time into his shoulder. _No vital origins have been pierced yet,_ Artemis realized. _They're deliberately killing me slowly! _

The boy continued to stab him violently, as his vision began to blur.

Then everything went black.

**(an:/ you were warned) **

* * *

"Artemis? Artemis?"

" . . . Huh?" now, that was a word he didn't say everyday. He sat up a wiped his eyes. Butler's body was approximately half a meter to his left. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Saw a female face with light brown skin a hazel-green eyes peering over him. "Holly? Wha . . . what?"

"I don't know. I got freaked out when the communicator stopped working, so I came over here to make sure that everything was okay. . . . Which clearly, it wasn't."

"Got that right," snorted a voice beside her. He looked and for the first time noticed that Grub Kelp, Trouble's little brother, was next to her.

Holly smiled sheepishly. "I needed to bring backup. He was the only one available." She shrugged.

"That's quite alright, My Lady."

Grub giggled. "Who's the lady?" he teased, which in return he received a punch from Holly.

"Artemis . . . are you okay?"

"Never better!" he smiled in a very unlike-Artemis-way. How badly was he hurt?

Then it hit her. "Oh no," she breathed.

"What is it?" asked Grub.

"Orion?"

"Ah, so you remember my name!" he beamed. "And, of course I remember yours. It is a pleasure to see you again, Holly. Thank you for healing me. I always knew you had feelings for me." He grinned like a mad man.

"What? No, no. I mean, I _do_ have feelings for you - - but not in the way that you think. Oh, gods. I don't need you, now. I need Artemis!" By this time, Kelp was rolling on the floor, having a hysterical laughing fit.

"Wouldn't I be just as suitable, My Love?"

"NO!"

Grub sniggered. "My Love?" he repeated.

"SHUT UP!"

"What is the matter with Butler, may I ask?"

Holly teared up. "I'm sorry, Arte-Orion. I don't know what happened. He's not moving."

"Except for his eyes," Grub added, "they were creepy. Luckily, I knew Morse Code. He spoke to me by blinking," Grub looked truly pleased with himself, as if he were a complete a genius.

"That's it," Holly said, "I can only have one pest at a time. I'm sorry, Orion, I really am. But I need to talk to Artemis, now."

"Wait, My Dear! What are y - - "

"You pack a mean punch, Captain," Grub grinned.

"Artemis, you okay?"

"Yeah. I think so. Thanks for that, Holly," he looked around. "Where's Lily?"

"Who?"

"The little girl who tried to kill me! And that other boy . . . what was his name . . . ? - - Hugo! Yes, that was it."

"There was no one here when we came," Kelp frowned.

His eyes widened. "Oh, god," Artemis whispered, "I have a crazy idea. Holly, Grub? We're going to England."

* * *

Artemis had put a computer tracking chip Harry Potter when he and his friend had appeared in his home. So finding his house was easy enough.

The plan would probably work as long as they didn't kill him on the spot.

_And this is also assuming that they don't work for Opal, too,_ he thought darkly.

"I'll go," Holly said, "they don't know me. Grub, you shield Artemis."

"What? I don't wanna!" he whined.

"GRUB!"

"I mean, of course, Ma'am!"

* * *

KNOCK. KNOCK.

"I'll get it!" Harry called. He stood up and walked to the door. Opening it, he saw, standing in the doorway, a little girl. Despite his bad mood, Harry tried his best to look friendly. "Hi, Sweetie. Can I help you with anything?"

"Are you the father of Lily Potter?"

"Yes, why? Did they find her?" he asked excitedly.

_She was missing? - - of course, the family would obviously notice something odd about her._ "Mr. Potter, we need to speak to you."

"We?"

Artemis stepped in. "Yes, we."

"You!" Harry sneered, pulling out his (borrowed) wand.

Artemis held up his hands. "Please, don't," Artemis told him. "I just want to help . You see, I believe I know where your daughter may be."

"Lily? You know where she is?" then he became suspicious. "Why should I trust you?"

"Okay, okay, fine; point taken. I have not given you any reason to trust me. But please, hear me out. I know who has Lily, and I also know for a fact that she will not show any mercy. And let's face the facts: you are clueless without me. So please, lower your wand."

"Why? What does he want with her?"

"_She_."

"What does she want with her? Who is she? Do I know her?"

"That would be highly unlikely."

"Holly?"

"What is it, Grub?" she hissed.

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"Bathroom? Now? Really, Kelp. _Really_?"

"I can't control my Blatter!"

"Grub, get over here," she said through clenched teeth. He shuffled over awkwardly. "This is my college, Grub Kelp," Holly explained to Harry. "Is it alright if he uses the loo?"

"What?" Grub jumped back in alarm. He look utterly horrified by the very idea. "I'm not using their toilets! It has human germs!"

"As opposed to . . . ?" Harry asked.

"Then go in the bushes!"

"Fine! I will!" Grub stomped off.

Artemis smiled awkwardly. "Well," he said. "that kind of killed the moment, don't you think?"

* * *

**I'm BAA-AACK!**

**Please review!**


	9. Chapter 8

**FINALLY, an update!**

**To my lovely reviewers:**

**Mystic Supernovae and Bloodie Indy: Thanks, I'm glad you guys are happy.**

**GrygrFlzr: True.**

**booklover613: Don't worry about it.**

* * *

Albus peeked his head into the drawing room. He saw his mother and father sitting with Alfonse and two random kids. _Probably friends of Lily,_ he reasoned. _Maybe he was wondering if they knew were she was_. Still, it seemed rather unlikely that he wouldn't recognize them. Albus knew most of his sister's friends.

"What'cha doing?" a voice said behind him.

Albus jumped. "Bloody hell, Rose! Don't do that!" his cousin smiled innocently. "How did you even get in?" he asked. "I can see the door from here- - and don't tell me you apparated. Even **you** can't pull that off."

"I used the back door," Rose replied. She paused, then added, "duh."

"But what about- -"

"I know where you keep your key."

"Oh."

In the past few days, Rose had gone from the pit of despair to a ray of sunshine. It seemed that was how Rose dealt with things that upset her: push it away, immerse yourself in the television set, and if anybody brings it up, make a joke out of it.

Albus shushed his cousin, eager to hear what the adults were saying.

" . . . kidnapped Lily and Hugo. . . "

At the sound of her brother's name, Rose's ears perked up. "Out of the way, cuz," she ordered, pushing Albus out of the way to listen at the crack of the door. Her eyes widened in horror. Oh. My. God." She breathed.

"What? What is it?" Albus demanded. He was shaking from head to toe in anticipation. Without thinking, he shoved past his cousin to get closer to the crack of the door. "I want to hear!" he shouted, forgetting that he was supposed to be quiet.

The door opened, and the two pre-teens leaning on the frame, toppled over. They looked up. "Hi, Uncle Harry!" said Rose cheerfully.

Harry tried (and failed) to look angry. Still, a bemused smile was quite visible on his face. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" he said in a mockingly stern voice.

They quickly gathered themselves up and stood. Albus stared down at the floor, ashamed. Rose, however, stood up defiantly and demanded to know what they were saying about her brother.

Harry sighed. Rose, like her mother, was incredibly stubborn. Trying to change her mind about anything was near impossible once she was fixed on something, and at the moment, she was fixed on finding her brother. Could he blame her? Who wouldn't be worried with a sibling missing? Still, he didn't want to have to worry his son and niece with disappointing news. He himself had spent his childhood with danger around every corner, he didn't want that for his kids.

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but somebody else beat him to it. "Is there a problem here?" asked Alfonse. The Irish teen stood up and made his way towards the trio. He nodded curtly at Harry and attempted (and failed) a warm smile in the children's direction.

Albus mumbled a greeting, trying his best to be polite. Rose glared at him. She did not trust the boy for one minute. There was something odd about him. "Where's my brother?" she demanded in a forced-calm voice. "Where. Is. Hugo."

Al nudged his cousin warningly, but she ignored him. "You know, don't you?" she accused. The boy flinched. That meant he must know! "Where is he? Tell me now!"

Artemis/Alfonse studied the two children like lab rats for several seconds. Suddenly, an idea occurred. _Surely it couldn't be that simple . . . **could** it? _"How old are you two?" he asked.

Rose's fierce expression flickered, clearly confused by the seemingly out of context question.

"We're both ten," the boy next to her responded. He was looking at Artemis as if he had grown another head. Did he have some leftover lipstick on his face?

"Stop avoiding the subject, will you?" the girl exclaimed. "If you know something about my brother, why don't you tell me?" When he failed to answer right away, she screamed. "It's because we're kids, isn't it? You think that we're not old enough to handle anything! Well, you're wrong. We want to help. Right, Al?" she gave her cousin a look, who nodded uncertainly while looking down at the floor.

Artemis gave a small smirk. This was plan would be perfect! Everything would fall right into his hands. He didn't know why this surprised him, he was a genius after all.

So they wanted to help, huh? Well, it would be a_ shame_ to deny them the opportunity . . . .

* * *

Ten minutes later, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, Albus, Rose, Holly, and Grub, were listening as Artemis explained what had happened to Lily and Hugo (leaving out any unnecessary information, of course.) When he was done, the wizards stared at him with their mouth's slightly agape.

Ginny ran her fingers through her hair. "So let me get this straight," she said, "there is a power-hungry woman named Opal Koboi, who looks like a child and wants to kidnap wizard children by hypnotizing them into becoming her youth minions?"

Artemis nodded calmly.

Rose waved her hand around, like a child begging to be called no by a teacher. "So, where exactly do we fit into this?" she said, gesturing to herself and Albus.

All eyes were on Artemis. "Yes, thank you, little girl. I was getting to that." Rose snorted indignantly at being called a little girl. "You see, my friends, nobody knows where Opal is hiding. Chances are that it is somewhere underground and guarded by some of the most advanced alarms systems in the world. If we were to just barge in there now, we wouldn't know what to expect. Which is why we would need somebody to go undercover. That's where you come in."

Albus's eyes widened in fear. A spy mission? That's what he wanted? But how did they know that they could trust him? He turned to his cousin. Rose's eyes were shinning with determination. She was excited, actually excited. Rose always loved a good challenge, this was probably like a game to her. But Albus knew this was no game. This person, whoever he or she was, was dangerous. He had seen with his own eyes the condition that Padfoot was left in. Anyone who was willing to do something so horrible to innocent children and dogs just for power must be the evilest person in the world!

He turned to his parents. Albus was partially relieved and partially worried to see that they, too, shared similar looks of horror on their faces. There was no way they would let him do this.

But was that what he wanted? Part of Albus yearned for revenge. He wanted to get back at whoever did such horrible things to his cousin, sister, and dog. He wanted to give them a taste of their own medicine. Plus, the idea of a spy mission sounded pretty cool.

"No way!" Ginny cried. "Absolutely not!" She grabbed Albus and held him tightly. "I'm not putting any more of my children in danger! Do you understand, Mr. Fowl?"

Harry looked troubled as well, but did not straight out voice his opinions. "Surely there must be some other way. . . "

"I am sure there are **some**," he admitted, "but probably nowhere near as efficient as this one."

Holly shook her head. "I'm going to have to side with Mrs. Weasley on this one," she said, "you can't just force children to go undercover and- -"

"Who said anything about forcing? I'm giving them a choice. Would that be acceptable to you, Mr. and Mrs. Potter?"

Ginny scowled. "You already know my answer!" she spat, still not letting go of her son.

Harry looked more uncomfortable than ever. "But if everything you say is true, then wouldn't Albus and Rose be hypnotized?"

His wife's eyes widened in shock. "You're not actually considering . . . ?"

"Oh no, you see, that's the beauty of my plan. What I have found is that mesmerization can be avoided if certain tactics are used." Artemis reached into his pocket and pulled out two transparent plastic cups. "These contact lenses I am holding, an invention by yours truly, will enable your children to look directly into Opal's eyes and not become mesmerized."

"Dad. . ." Albus said hesitantly, "I think . . . I think I want to try it."

Rose beamed.

Harry paused. The last thing he wanted to do was put another one of his children in danger, even if he did offer on his own account.

"Come on, Dad," Al persisted, the confidence continuing to rise in his voice. "I really want to do this. I want to help Lily. This is the only way. Please?" he put on his best immitation of Padfoot's face at the dinner table.

"Pretty please?" Rose added, "with hoping chocolate frogs on top?"

Holly, Artemis, and Grub (who was playing some tiny, holographic video game), all gave her an look of incredulousness and disgust. Holly opened her mouth to say something, but then thought better of it. Grub, however, felt no need to restrain himself. Almost all faeries were known to be strict vegetarians - -and even the few species that weren't usually knew better than to speak of animal torture.

"You _what_?" he cried, accidentally blowing himself up in his holographic game. The 3D red letters read GAME OVER. He turned it off after a glare from Holly. "You _what_?" he repeated. "Hoping chocolate frogs? You mean you eat them while they're still _alive_?"

"What? No, of course not! They aren't even real frogs," Rose said, "everybody knows that! They're just chocolate charmed to look and bounce like frogs do."

_How appetizing,_ thought Holly sarcastically. She could hardly suppressed a shudder.

"But why would anyone want to eat something so life-like?"

"Because it's _fun_."

"**Fun?** How could - -"

Artemis cleared his throat. "As fascinating as this discussion is, can we please return to our previous conversation?"

Rose nodded. "Well, I don't care what you guys say or do. I'm going. Hand over the contacts, unnamed Irish boy!" Rose ordered, holding out her hand.

Fowl stiffened, clearly disgruntled. He did not like being addressed by an informal name by a stranger. Somehow "unnamed Irish boy" fell into that category. He found this especially insulting because she was so much younger than him. What right did she have to treat him with such disrespect? Who did she think she was? "I've a name, you know," he muttered.

"Good for you. I want the lenses."

"I won't give them to you, until you ask me nicely, like a normal person."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. I - -" Suddenly, she sprang at Artemis, reaching for the contacts. Immediately, he held up his hand to keep them out of her reach. Rose grinned slyly and began to tickle his armpit. An underrated, but brilliant strategy.

Artemis's grip began to weaken, and Rose was about to reach for them, when there was a thunderous knock on the door.

"POTTER, OPEN YOUR DOOR THIS INSTANT, OR I WILL BURN IT DOWN!" came the voice of Draco Malfoy.

* * *

**Okay, so to recap: Artemis Fowl the second, still recovering from the Atlantis Complex, thinks that wizards may be the major issue behind global warming. Meanwhile, Opal is kidnapping and mesmerizing wizard children for some unknown reason. Among her victims are eight-year-old Hugo Weasley and Lily Potter. Artemis has a plan to stop her, but it involves two children going undercover and pretending to be mesmerized in order to discover her plan. Oh and for some reason, Draco Malfoy is unhappy. And knowing him, it could be anything.**

**I hope people are still reading this. If you are, please review. It's been a long time and I need some feedback.**


	10. Chapter 9

**Jolinnn: Good guess and thank you for your honesty. If you could tell me WHERE exactly you're confused, then maybe I could help you out a bit.**

**book_lover613: Thanks, Cuz!**

**Bloodie Indy: Thanks!**

**Mystic Supernova the Dib fan: *Hangs head in shame* Yeah . . . *shuffles feet awkwardly* sorry about the whole keeping-you-guys-waiting-for-numerous-months thingy. I've been really busy with school work lately, and I'm actually taking summer school this summer which starts tomorrow (depressing, I know). Anyway, I'll try to update as frequently as possible, so please just bear with me :)**

**blackkyu: No problem. I was honestly starting to forget the plot myself. As for Artemis and Rose and Al, we'll see. I have a general idea on where this fanfic I going, but little is actually set in stone. I don't know just how much interaction will take place between them, but a friendship is entirely possible**.

* * *

Harry, struggling to look polite, opened the door to a fuming Astoria and Draco Malfoy.

"Well?" he said, inviting himself in. "Where are they?"

"Where are who?" he asked, confused.

Malfoy took none of it. "Oh, you know who," he insisted, his steel-grey eyes burning with rage, practically boring holes through Harry's skull.

"You-know-Who?"

"_NO!_"

Rose rolled her eyes. As usual, she made no attempt to hide her annoyance, or bluntly voice her opinion. "Okay, would you stop being so cryptic? I think it's pretty obvious that none of us know who you are talking about!" she threw her hands up in the air in annoyance. She turned back to Artemis. "Now, about those contacts. . . "

Fowl sighed, reluctantly handing them over. "I really do wish you would have been more- -" Rose snatched them out of his palm, giving him a quick "thank you", and handing the other pair to her cousin.

"Excuse me, does anyone realize that we're standing right here?" Astoria, Malfoy's wife, demanded. Astoria was a pretty woman with long, light auburn hair and large, sea green eyes. She was two years younger than her husband, but stood a little over an inch taller.

"No, we do," Rose assured her, "We just don't care."

"Potter," Draco growled, "what is the meaning of this? I demand to know where my children are at once!"

"I can assure you, Sir, that we are in the process of locating them right now," said Artemis, in a professional manner, seeming completely undisturbed by the couple barging into the Potter's house.

"What do you mean 'in the process of'?" demanded Astoria, growing angrier my the millisecond. Her husband, too, was shaking from head to toe in rage, clearly not used to having his demands unmet. "Who are you, anyway?" she asked, growing suspicious. "I haven't seen you here before."

Potter cleared his throat. "How about Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy and I settle things in the kitchen, while you guys debate amongst yourselves."

Artemis nodded. "That sounds reasonable to me."

Ginny glared at them. "I can't believe that we're even debating something so stupid. I'm not letting my son risk his neck."

"Come on, Mum, I really want to do this. I understand the risks, but this is super important. We need to find her. You know it, I know it . . . and besides," he added with a smirk, "who else is going to keep Rose in check?"

"I just think that this sort of thing should be left to the Ministry . . ."

"Pardon me, Aunt Ginny," Rose inquired, "but if I remember correctly, didn't you, along with a bunch of other underaged wizards create an army to rebel against the goverment when you were only fourteen?"

"That was totally different. The situation was dire. Besides, that wasn't life-threatening."

"But what about the Battle of Hogwarts? That was life-threatening," Albus pointed out.

"I'll have you know that I didn't actually participate in that battle. I minded by own business and stood on the sidelines, leaving the fighting to the adults."

Rose frowned. "That doesn't sound like what my dad told me. He said that Grandmother and Grandfather had to drag to the side, kicking a screaming because you wanted to fight." Albus giggled.

Artemis said, "If you really do not want them to participate, then I can make other arrangements. . ."

"NO!" shouted Rose. "I want to help. He's my brother."

"It will be quite dangerous. . ."

Rose shrugged nonchalantly. "I know that."

"Look, you're a smart girl, Rose," Aunt Ginny was nearly pleading, "surely you know better than to go out and risk your life when it's not absolutely necessary- -"

"'Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings'," Rose quoted solemnly.

Artemis nodded, impressed. "Salvador Dali," he said, recognizing the source, "Forgive me, but, 'ambition should be made of sterner stuff'."

Rose smirked. "William Shakespeare," she said automatically.

Albus, feeling that he should contribute, said, "'When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.'"

"Alright, enough with the quoting!" Ginny said. The children looked at each other and smiled.

"I like pie," Albus announced.

* * *

"Now," said Harry, once the door to the kitchen was closed. "I'm terribly sorry about what happened to little Scorpius- -"

"- -And Calista," Astoria interrupted. At Harry's blank stare, she rolled her eyes and laughed bitterly. "Did you not know? There are two children. Scorpius is the eldest, Calista just turned eight."

"Oh." He said, feeling a bit foolish. Then again, why should he? Why was he expected to know all of the names and ages of his former enemys' kids? Still, he tried to remain indifferent. "Well, then, I'm sorry about both of your children. We're doing all we can in our power to find them and you will be notified as soon as we receive any news."

Malfoy glared at Harry. Once again his eyes seethed with vehemence. "You don't care, do you?"

"I just said that we would - -"

"You don't care a damn about our children! You hate them just because of their parents! That's it, isn't it?"

"I have no idea what you are talking abou- -"

"Oh, save it, Potter! Don't tell me it wasn't your doing that the Ministry did not reply to my owl. Why else do you think I came here? Do you think I found it funny when Aurors searched my house for the umpteenth time, because someone preformed an illegal curse? Well, I'm not amused! Not in the least."

Now indignant, Harry returned the same venomous glare in Draco's direction. "I never heard about any surprise raid on anyone's house. Just because something bad happened to you, it doesn't mean that I automatically had something to do with it. I'm not out to get you, Draco. Now, if you'll tell me what exactly happened to Scorpius and Calista, it might help me in locating them."

"Draco was at work when it happened," Astoria interjected. "I was the one who saw it."

"Go on, then."

"Well, there isn't really much to it. I was in the parlor with Calista, and Scorpius came in and asked if he could test his new broom outside. I allowed it, but made him swear to stay in the yard and be back by dark. Later on, his sister joined him. There was nothing unusual about it. I became concerned when they didn't show up after dusk, so I sent Foo-Foo, our house elf, to go fetch them. Foo-foo returned later saying that they were gone. I followed her out into the yard, thinking that it might have just been a game, but after looking around for a while, I realized that there was no trace of them."

"That's when I came home," Draco said. "We searched the house once again, but came up empty-handed. Except for one thing."

"On the stone wall in the back, someone had scribbled something down. It looked like Scorpius's handwriting. . ."

"What did it say?" asked Harry.

"It was nothing," she said lowering her head, refusing to meet Harry's gaze. "Just a bunch of nonsense, really. Nothing. Forget I said anything."

"I'd still like to hear it."

"Fine." Astoria reached into her handbag and dug around. "I know that I wrote it down somewhere. . .ah, here it is: Atomic, global, danger, magic children, n wartius bon bon 23516429 12:30, number 3 every other, knockturn knockturn wingstand poppy. Like I said, all it is is a bunch of hogwash. Probably a part of some game he was playing but- -"

"Can I see it?" asked Harry. She nodded and handed him the parchment. He studied the content carefully, as if expecting it to change before his eyes. But the cryptic message remained the same. "Thank you," he said, "I'll send for some of my colleagues to come and investigate immediately."

"Harry!" Ginny burst into the kitchen. Her lower lip was trembling, and Harry could see that it was taking all of her willpower not to lose it right there and then. "They're gone," she whispered. "Albus and Rose they . . ." her voice cracked, "they ran away."

* * *

"How do we know where to go?" asked Albus.

"It's really quite simple. You said that Lily was walking Padfoot when she disappeared, right?" he nodded. "And it was approximately 6:30 PM, correct?" Al nodded again.  
"Well, then, knowing your sister I suspect she planned a short walk around the block, which takes about half an hour, maybe twenty-five minutes, a nice-sized stroll. She vanished on August fifteenth, right? So sunset was roughly at 6:50 that night, which meant that it would have become dark outside before she could reach home. Lily knows her way around this area fairly well, so chances are that she took a short cut through the graveyard. It's pretty likely that she was kidnapped there."

. . .

. . .

. . . Chirp. Chirp.

"You've put a lot of thought into this, haven't you?"

"What makes you think that?" Rose asked innocently. Rose was renown in the Weasley family for her math and logic skills, which by far surpassed those of the average ten-year-old. In fact, they often surpassed those of the average adult.

Albus paused, struggling to keep the emotion out of his voice. "Okay, fine. So maybe she vanished in the cemetery. But how will that help us find the kidnapper?"

"Villans always return to the scene of the crime," she replied matter-of-factly, making her way over to the graveyard. Rose walked with her head up high, looking more and more confident with each and every stride. To her, it was almost like a game. Mainly because Rose knew she would completely lose it if she so much as reminded herself that it was real life. The thought of her brother missing was too much to bare. But a pretend kidnapping? That she could handle.

Albus was a bit reluctant to follow. He trusted his cousin's judgement- -only a fool wouldn't, but he was worried about the potential dangers. He glanced at his wrist watch. Alfonse had given him and Rose watches that he claimed doubled as communication devices. Al had been skeptical, even after the older boy had demonstrated their use. Rose had taken to it easily, talking up a storm about how impressed she was with the technology.

He also felt sort of bad for running away. Okay, fine. He and Rose did announce they were going to leave, so it wasn't running away completely, he supposed. But they had left before his mum could respond. It felt sort of like cheating.

Rose, however, seemed to hold no regret of their actions, finding everything that they had done completely justifiable. Rose was the kind of person who liked to live "in the moment", rarely reflecting on the past. Al wished that the same could be said for him.

* * *

**Suggestions are always welcome. So is praise and constructive criticism. Please let me know what you think! **

**Bonus points to whoever knows where Albus's last quote came from!**


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